POETRY READING SPOTLIGHTS HOMELESS EXPERIENCE

Mar 08, 2017

Omak writer Elsie Ford will read from her collection of “My Homeless Poems” during an event to benefit Manfisher Ministries’ programs for the homeless at 7 p.m. Thursday, March 23, at St. Anne’s Episcopal Church, 639 W. Ridge Drive & Emery Street, Omak. Admission will be by donation.

The poetry reading, in a coffee house atmosphere, will include music by the M&M Duo, with bassist Maren Noyes and Mary Koch on keyboard.

Ford wrote a series of poems while living in the Salvation Army Emergency Lodge, a shelter for homeless people in Richmond, Virginia, during the Christmas season in 1994. After she was diagnosed with Dissociative Identity Disorder (DID), she received services from Richmond Behavioral Health. She especially credits her recovery to two case workers who helped her at the time.

“With help and understanding from these two strong and compassionate women, I was able to receive housing and move on with my life,” she wrote in the acknowledgment section of poetry collection, which is being published this month. She plans to donate half the proceeds from book sales to homeless programs, however 100 percent of donations at the poetry reading will go to Manfisher Ministries.